If you don’t already, you need to subscribe, follow, read and watch Gary Vaynerchuk on anything and everything.(In no way am I being paid, reimbursed, bribed, or anything else to tell you that! I’m merely trying to tell you FOLLOW THIS AMAZING MAN if you want AMAZING inbound marketing tips, digital marketing tips, personal branding tips, etc.!)

I know for me, personally, I hit a link – a blog – a website – and if it’s informative enough, or seems ‘hip’ enough – I’ll usually follow through on their immediate ‘call to action’ (as every inbound site of course has, right?) and give them my email address, and subscribe to their newsletter. By the 2nd round of emails (if I even make it past the first email they send) – I’m 99% likely to hit that unsubscribe button. While they drew me in enough to get me to give them my email – they have failed to hold my interest. Whether it’s because their emails are boring, they failed to correctly personalize (i.e. my experience with Ebates.com), or whatever reason – VERY FEW newsletters that I sign up for, do I ever read the first – even fewer make it past the 2nd email.

The amazing Gary Vee recently sent an email out… sharing an old video he once did, titled ‘One is Greater than Zero‘. If you haven’t watched it; watch it now!

But this is something I have been ‘doing, believing, and preaching’ for years. Because while I measure everything (after all, I’m an inbound marketer!), I purposefully do not focus on the amount of views or leads or comments or shares or retweets or bounces or anything on my own personal domain. Because, I know that whatever I am doing? It’s working. It may not be going viral – but it is helping those who may not know much about digital or inbound (i.e. my most successful posts have been the ones where I wrote merely tips to help businesses grow; i.e. 6 Steps to Organically Growing Your Social Media Following or (Competitor) Ignorance Ain’t Bliss Honey… or What is “Inbound Marketing” aka – “Sell Me This Pen” or Stalking Not Necessary… How to Stay on Top of Your Competition!) I didn’t write those to attract, or count, or convert or build an empire – I wrote those merely to share and help others. Others who may never become clients. Others who may never spend $1 with me. But I wrote it for them – and not for my own purpose, not for my own numbers, not for my own gains. And yet, those (and other similar blog posts) are the reasons I’ve landed new clients. Are the reason I’ve attracted employers and opportunities that I thought were “way out of my league”.

And yet – I write other posts – where only 1 person reads it; and they even bounce. Or I get 10 visitors, and only 1 comment. Or I get no comments.

But I still write.

Because ‘The Power of ONE’ is influence enough. Maybe that ‘one’ will become my next huge client. Maybe that ‘one’ will refer someone to my blog, or to me. OR maybe, just maybe that ‘one’ was about to give up on their business – on their own success and growth – and instead learned something unique and valuable enough to help keep them going.

Don’t write or create content merely for the numbers. I promise you – if what you share is valuable – you will get more than 1. But even if you write the most AMAZING blog post, even if you create the most AMAZING video, graphic, ebook, etc – and it only gets 1 view/click/download – you never who that ‘one’ is.

I purposefully avoid writing about personal things on this blog – focusing merely on suggestions, tips and help to support the amazing world of digital marketing & inbound marketing that I am so happy to be a part of.

However; recently a young lady – Cassidy Stay, the lone survivor of a massacre in Texas – which left her 4 siblings & both parents dead – reminded us that life is so short, and we never know when those we love may leave this world.

And even still – despite the amazing struggle this lady faced as her own pain – and the difficulties that await her in the days, months and years ahead as she grieves for the loss of her entire family… I encourage any that read this blog; to seek love.

Forgive even when it seems impossible and love, even when it seems undeserving.

If you’re still living under a rock – and you missed the ‘infamous’ Matt Cutts stance that guest blogging was dead (which I wrote about here) – then… pat yourself on the back of ignorant bliss.

Because this time your ignorance has served you well.

I stated when I wrote my original post on the topic back in February – that Content was still king. Why, though, you insist on asking?

Content Builds Credibility – people (aka TRAFFIC) want to read things that matter… Whether it’s learning something, validating something, building something, or with the opportunity to gain something – if what you write is quality and of value – then you’re going to generate solid SEO traffic (of course assuming you do a little bit of competitor analysis and keyword research, as I explain here).

Content Nurture’s – If you’ve written quality content, that provides a service or value and thus built your crediability – you are going to give reason for people to actually submit that email request you’re begging for. You’re going to build your funnels – and more importantly you’re going to remind your traffic (funnels) about your ingeniousness when it comes to whatever it is you do best!

Like is Like (Especially with Content!) The odds of someone who reads your blog (or the blog your guest posting on – assuming you’re guest blogging on the right blogs – one’s that are in a similar industry or that generate traffic from your ideal demographic) reading someone else’s blog that you link to – because you’ve built crediability and are now sharing that crediability with your link – are pretty dang high. Think about it… if you’re on MOZ’s Blog and they link to me (or I guest post on their blog) you’re pretty dang likely to swing to my site if you like/trust what they (or I) are saying.

That said – I am excited to announce that BlairPettrey.com (that’s me!) will be introducing guest blogging from other awesome experts, pro’s and rockstars (and even the ‘anti rockstars’) from the digital & inbound marketing field!

If you’re interested in guest blogging – and building traffic down that awesome & strong 2 way street – and consider yourself knowledgeable in one of the following fields, send me an email at Blair@BlairPettrey.com!